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how I've missed you, Dave
Jul. 27th, 2010 01:56 pmColumnist Dave Barry frequently liked to answer the mail he received, both from fans and ... well, non-fans, I guess you could call them. He even had categories, such as Letters from Space, which were in no way related to anything he'd written, but they gave him great entertainment to recount.
One of his more memorable categories was Letters from the Humor-Impaired. I specifically remember one because it seemed so eye-poppingly BZWUT that it stuck with me, though few things do for so long: Dave had written a humor column in which he made some comment that the only thing women couldn't do better than men was run a remote control (and if you have to live with a man, you know this is right in most cases). Later, he related a letter he received from a woman who informed him in quite a serious tone that not only could women run a remote control every bit as well as men, they could do a LOT of things as well or better than men, and the only thing they couldn't do without men was have babies. "But, we're working on it!" the letter finished.
"And I bet she is," Dave quipped.
This was several years ago, and I remember thinking He must've made that up to get a laugh. After dealing with Fandom and the Internet for a few years, however, I have met enough of the Humor-Impaired that I no longer suspect Dave of manufacturing this letter. Sadly, I think it was real. And they're getting crazier, being fed by like-minded pedantic whiners who would completely eliminate the joke, the bon mot, the pun, the quip, and the one-liner if they could - and I'm talking about the inoffensive and the mildly-racy that rely more on wit than shock - because the world isn't at all fun for them, and they want to make sure there's nothing enjoyable in it for anyone else, either.
Sorry, Dave.
One of his more memorable categories was Letters from the Humor-Impaired. I specifically remember one because it seemed so eye-poppingly BZWUT that it stuck with me, though few things do for so long: Dave had written a humor column in which he made some comment that the only thing women couldn't do better than men was run a remote control (and if you have to live with a man, you know this is right in most cases). Later, he related a letter he received from a woman who informed him in quite a serious tone that not only could women run a remote control every bit as well as men, they could do a LOT of things as well or better than men, and the only thing they couldn't do without men was have babies. "But, we're working on it!" the letter finished.
"And I bet she is," Dave quipped.
This was several years ago, and I remember thinking He must've made that up to get a laugh. After dealing with Fandom and the Internet for a few years, however, I have met enough of the Humor-Impaired that I no longer suspect Dave of manufacturing this letter. Sadly, I think it was real. And they're getting crazier, being fed by like-minded pedantic whiners who would completely eliminate the joke, the bon mot, the pun, the quip, and the one-liner if they could - and I'm talking about the inoffensive and the mildly-racy that rely more on wit than shock - because the world isn't at all fun for them, and they want to make sure there's nothing enjoyable in it for anyone else, either.
Sorry, Dave.
